These Four Walls
by The Soft Smell of Rain
Summary: After 3x9 Homecoming Klaus chooses to lock Elena and Damon away to prevent futher interference of his plans. What will long days and nights in a cold dark cellar do for our favorite couple? Will they grow closer or step on each others nerves?
1. These Four Walls

Hello everyone!

Two stories in two days, that will hopefully make up for some of my absence the last month:)

So, this is the first chapter in my new story. After 3x9 Homecoming Klaus chooses to lock Elena and Damon away to prevent futher interference in his plans. What will long days and nights in a cold dark cellar do for our favorite couple? Will they grow closer or step on each others nerves? Well, you'll just have to read and see for yourselves:)

The prologue will seem quite dark, but I will include lighter themes in later chapters.

Please let me know if you like the prologue and I will have the next chapter up in a few days (maybe faster if I get inspirational reviews:))

Please read, enjoy and review:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or any of the characters in this story. Only the plot is mine.

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Elena fought uselessly against the ropes that kept her hands pinned behind her back in a hurtful fashion. Her smooth hands were sore from the struggle and her body bruised with the attempts at getting leverage from the ropes securing her wrists. She rested on her side for a moment, throwing worried looks at the dark haired man laying unconscious by her side, wishing he would wake up and miraculously save them from their precarious situation.

Their body's swayed slightly with the movement of the car that was currently leading them towards their unknown destination. Elena had been on her way home from school when a man and a woman suddenly had grabbed her from the sidewalk, quickly covered her mouth before she could gain anyone's attention and dragged her towards a black SUV parked beside the road. The last thing she remembered was being tossed into the huge trunk of the car and catching a glimpse of a familiar black-clad vampire before she felt a wet nasty smelling cloth cover her nose and she had involuntary dropped into a thick darkness of unconsciousness.

When she had woken up an unknown amount of time later the car was moving and she had desperately tried to wake the vampire by her side, whispering his name urgently into the tight air surrounding them. She had been out of her mind with worry when he didn't wake up by her pleading call, and she had thoroughly searched his body for injuries with her eyes, needing him to wake up and act as her saviour as he had done so many times in the past.

After her failed attempts at arousing Damon from what she believed to be a vervain induced coma, she was now once again struggling with the rough material restraining her arms. Her heart leaped in her chest when she noticed that the car was starting to slow down and she registered the change of road surface that made the car bounce slightly. Elena kept fighting for her freedom, sensing they was nearing their destination and desperate to get away before she could come face to face with whatever was awaiting her when they arrived.

When the car come to a stop ten minutes later Elena could feel her heart beat wildly and painfully against her ribcage. She had no idea what was awaiting her, or more important, who was awaiting her.

The backdoors where wringed open and Elena immediately got blinded by the bright afternoon light streaming into the dimly lit space. She felt someone grab her legs and pull her brutally out of the car and onto the gravel in the driveway were they had parked. When her eyes had adjusted to the sharp light she took in the sight of the huge old-fashioned mansion in front of her. The building reminded her a great deal about the house Rose and Trevor had housed her in after their abduction several months ago. From the look of the outside it did not seem like it had been used as a dwelling place for quite some time, the painting dry and flaky, and the pillars surrounding the broad patio entangled in wild growing vegetation.

Elena had barely a second to look around in confusion before she was violently grabbed by the arm of the young woman and hauled towards the huge oak-wood door in the middle of the patio. She turned her head in desperation and observed with relief the man following them with Damon thrown carelessly over his shoulder.

"What do you want with us? Why have you taken us here?", she couldn't help the question from tumbling from her dry lips, her voice raspy and unfamiliar after several hours of silent panic in the tight space of the car's trunk.

She didn't receive any reply and she felt icy panic claw at her insides the moment the dark-haired woman pushed her inside the front door and kept forcing her deeper into the dark confines of the house. Elena was led straight to a door revealing a staircase, squeaking dusty steps leading down into a complete darkness. Fear drowning her insides, Elena tried to fight her way out of the woman's grip, panic giving her body an abnormal strength unfitting to her slender frame. Still, her strength was useless in a fight against the supernatural being she soon realized her opponent to be. A feline hiss filled the air as a hand closed around Elena's fragile neck, smashing her small body against the rough wall to the point where her toes barely touched the floor beneath her.

"Don't you dare fight me you pesky little human", the woman growled inches from Elena's face, her dark shoulder length hair almost touching Elena's cheek and her hard silver eyes glowing menacingly in the dim light.

Elena, breathless and aching after the violent impact with the wall, was roughly pulled down the stairs, her feet barely hitting the steps in the heavy darkness around her. She felt herself being led through another door before she was carelessly pushed down unto the cold concrete floor, her knees hitting the hard surface with enough force to bruise. A small circle of light penetrated the darkness around her and she turned her body slightly to see the man carrying Damon's lifeless form enter the doorway with a flashlight, dumping the body violently on a lumpy mattress close to the door.

Elena tried to stumble to her feet, but the movement sent shocks of agony through her body and made tears pool in her sore eyes.

"Soo, little doppelganger", the woman's icy voice sounded through the nearly completely dark room, "our comrade Klaus sent us to put you and your little vampire friend here out of harms way for a while. Apparently he is tired of his personal 'blood bag' trying to get herself killed or planning nasty plots to take him down together with her little supernatural friends" .

"You're hybrids", Elena whispered only slightly loud enough to be heard.

The woman only watched her with a knowing smirk on her face, light and shadows colouring her features and giving her an even more vicious look.

"I think I've have given you more than enough context by now Sweetheart. Me and my friend here have places to be, so we will be living you for now. Guess we will back in a week or so to check up on you"

Elena sat motionless on the floor, her panic of being left in a cold dark room with no access to food or water making her throat retract and impossible to get any words through her trembling lips. Seconds later she could hear the door close behind the two hybrids and some scratching sounds while they secured the door from the outside. Not before she distantly heard their car roar to life and start moving down the road did she change her posture, her head falling down in her hands and raw sobs ripping through her chest and disappear into the deep darkness surrounding her.

Still crying she crawled towards the spot in the darkness where she hoped to find Damon. After some minutes of desperate searching and blindly tumbling in the dark her fingers hit the familiar fabric of Damon's leather jacket. She crawled nearer, curling herself into a ball next to him on the mattress and pressing her face against his leather-clad back. Her eyes continued leaking and her whole body trembled from the fear and pain that rolled through her body in crushing waves. As her eyes closed in total exhaustion, helplessness caught her in its merciless grip, and in the cover of the silent darkness she uttered her final goodbyes to the world. How was she supposed to survive this.

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><p>Thanks for reading:) Please remember to review:)<p> 


	2. Trapped In More Ways Than One

So, second shapter is finally here:) I apologize the wait and hope this new chapter is worth it.

I like to thank everyone that have read, reviewed or favorited my first chapter, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have the inspiration to continued it, so thank you:)

I have stressed a little with this chapter so please excuse poor editing, I'm a student and sadly havn't got all the time in the world to write. Wish I had though:)

Please remember to review the story, my inspiration to continue it will depend on the feedback I get from you, so please let me know what you think.

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><p>Earth shattering pain. The feeling hit Damon's mind mercilessly the moment his consciousness gradually returned to his beaten body. He could feel his limbs still partly paralyzed by the generous dose of vervain he had received earlier and his head hurt with every attempt at opening his eyes. For a long while he lay quiet, rebuilding his strength in an achingly slow pace and trying to learn as much as possible about his surrounding without going through the pain of opening his eyes. His heightened senses was stretched out as much as his fogged mind could manage, and the first thing capturing his attention was the slow rhythm of a familiar heartbeat close by. The smell of her skin and the small radiation of warmth from her body hit him a second later, and if he had possessed the power he would have turned to her quicker than lightning to make sure she was okay. In his current state though he was barely able to twitch his fingers and knew he had to patiently wait for his muscle control to return before he could do anything at all about their situation .<p>

Concentrating hard he expanded his senses to their utter limits and searched the house and the area around it for any sighs of imminent danger, registering with relief that they seemed to be alone for the time being and hoped it was going to stay that way until he was strong enough to fight whoever had put them in this dark hole of a place. With the swipe of his vampire senses he already knew they were locked up in some damp cellar, and by the lacking smell of human inhabitation he was sure the house had been uninhabited for quite some time.

His senses was still on hyper alert while he awaited the time he would be able to move around and explore their options for escape. Half of his mind stayed alert and ready to catch any hint of foreign smell or sound while the other returned to the girl next to him. By the way her breath was deep and shallow he knew she was fast asleep, probably exhausted from the heavy release of tears he could smell in the air around her. His heart ached with the fact that she had been alone and scared in the dark while he had been to far gone to save her from her sufferings.

He finally managed to gather the strength to turn around, and immediately came face to face with the broken girl pressed into a tight ball on the space next to him. Her hair was in tangles around her pale face, her cheeks and eyelids red and swollen from crying and her clothes dirty and ripped around her slender frame. He hated seeing her like this, like a victim of war, or rather a victim of the unpredictable supernatural world. Tentatively, he raised his hand to brush the damp strands of her hair away from her face, lingering on her cool skin while his thumb softly traced the curve of her cheekbone.

As his fingers ghosted her smooth skin he noticed with displeasure how cold she felt under his hand. He could see she had tried to shield her body from the cold by wrapping her jacket closer around herself, but the tattered peace of clothing could not provide her more warmth than the thin mattress could protect her from the coldness of the floor beneath her. With a slight struggle he managed to slid off his leather jacket, gently draping it around the sleeping girl by his side. He watched her as she let out a small sigh of contentment, her slender fingers instinctively curling around the fabric and bringing it closer to her face, her nose comfortably nuzzling under the collar.

While Damon continued his slow recovering he intently watched Elena in her sleep. His entire being aching with the knowledge that they once again had stumbled head first into a situation that could cost them their lives. He wished with honesty that it would have been him alone, that he had been thrown her to rot by himself, that he would have been able to spare her from another flirtation with danger and death. Useless wishing for a gentler fate kept Damon's thoughts so preoccupied that he did not register the slow awakening of the girl by his side.

Elena opened her eyes slowly, blinking furiously to get the darkness out of her eyes, but soon enough remembering her sad whereabouts.

"Damon!", her voice rasped in the darkness, her hand fumbling before her and colliding softly with his cool chest.

"I'm here Elena, I'm here", he comforted, holding one of her hands in his own and gently stroking her face with the other.

Sadness and fear blended with relief and hope in Elena's tired mind and made it impossible to keep her tears at bay. Tiny sobs shook her small frame and tears made silent trails in the dirt on her cheeks.

She felt Damon shifting closer in the dark and soon her face was comfortably pressed against his chest, his mouth at her ear whispering word of comfort too softly to be heard, but his gentle voice breaking through her wall of panic and soothing her overpowered mind.

"Everything is going to be fine Elena. I'm not letting anyone hurt you. You know that right?", he soothed with a softness in his voice she had never thought him capable of.

"It's so dark", she cried against his chest, her slender hands fisted in his shirt in panic. "I can't see anything, I'm scared Damon", she continued sobbing, his heart whipped with every agonizing sound slipping her mouth.

"I know Elena, I know", he whispered comfortingly, "I'll try to find some light, okay? Big, bad vampires like me can see in the dark remember"

Elena did not laugh at his comment, but she did calm down enough so that he could gently pry her fingers from his shirt and rise his body slowly up into a standing position. Once on his feet he still felt the remains of the poison in his veins cling to his limbs with a feeling of numbness and heaviness, but he noted pleased that the majority of his strength was back and made him able to move with the same grace and finesse as he usually did.

Before Damon was able to start the search for any possible source of light, he felt a soft brush to his arm, followed by a shaky hand capturing the sleeve of his shirt and holding on tight. He turned his head around, meeting with to big brown eyes struggling to see in the dark, still filled with so much fear it made his insides clench painfully to witness it. Carefully untangling her hand from his sleeve, he closed his fingers around hers and let her follow him around to explore the room.

For the first time since Damon had woken up approximately an hour ago he used his enhanced vampire sight to take in the underground room. He was surprised to find their "dudgeon" quite spacious, the hole underground floor seeming to consist mainly by the room they were currently occupying. It turned out to be impossible to take in the full view of the room though since about two-thirds of the floor and walls was covered in all kinds of different rubbish previous owners must have discarded over the years. Damon could vaguely make out the shapes of several peaces of dusty furniture, sofas in the fashion of decades before with their fabric torn and stuffing leaking onto the floor, three-legged chairs with flaky paint and lots of ugly-looking, faded paintings in massive gold-coloured frames. In addition to the furniture there where lots of old garden equipment, building material and what Damon believed to be at least a few hundred boxes in different sizes and shapes, each marked with their content in faded letters on the cardboard. Damon quickly decided that if Mystic Falls decided to arrange a huge flee market they would have had all they needed in this single room alone, and even then Damon believed it would take at least a year to clear away the mountains of junk that filled most of the floor and nearly all of the space along the walls.

Elena had been patiently standing by his side while he observed their surrounding, her hand firmly holding on to his and her body lightly pressed into his side, clearly afraid he was going to get lost to her in the dark. Damon squeezed her hand reassuringly while he turned to take a closer look at the walls behind them, the only place that appeared to be something close to junk-free. Damon's sharp sight instantly picked up the shape of two medium sized peaces of chipboard nailed to the wall straight above the mattress he and Elena had shared their first night in this God forsaken place. He let go of Elena's cold hand and walked closer to the wall, faintly hearing Elena whimper with the loss of contact, but keeping his concentration on the chipboard he is currently ripping roughly off the wall. As he had expected, the minute the boards where removed faint light started sipping in to the room, making them both squint their eyes after the hours spent in utter darkness.

"Thank you Damon", Elena said from behind him, her words released with the stream of air she had hold for the past minute.

"Any time Pumpkin", Damon replied, turning to her and showing of one of his signature smirks.

Elena just rolled her eyes and shook her head at his comment, feeling her mind easing up a bit now that she was able to use her sight. Inspecting the small part of the room that was captured in the light from the windows she felt new hope bubble up inside of her with the sight of a shiny white, squared shape in the corner close to the bolted door.

" Damon, I think they have left us some food", she sighed relieved, walking closer to inspect the content of the small refrigerator and a closed cardboard box next to it.

Peaking inside the fridge she found several bottles of water, some milk and a few ready-to-eat meals. The box was filled to the brim with different types of canned food, packages of cereal and similar types of dried food that would not spoil in the musty cellar. Elena felt the icy grip around her heart unclench a little with the knowledge that they at least would not go hungry in the unknown amount of days they were spending as Klaus' personal prisoners.

"Did you find any AB negative in there", she heard Damon's deep voice ask from behind her. She frowned and turned to Damon who was standing in the exact same spot as earlier, his usual impenetrable mask covering his handsome face, giving his features an icy look in the dim light.

Elena gasped when she understood the meaning behind his words.

"They forgot to leave any blood-bags", she whispered in shock, fearing how they both would be able to survive if Damon turned to weak.

"Oh, I hardly think they forgot", she heard Damon reply, the coldness of his eyes sending icy shivers down her spine, fear rising in her body even though she trusted him with her life. Damon's voice was dripping of sarcasm and suppressed anger as he continued. "I guess they thought I brought my own…..lunch pack, so to speak"

Elena's brows furrowed before realization suddenly hit her like a blow to the gut.

"Oh…", was all she managed to get past her dry lips as she met Damon's hungry eyes from across the room.

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><p>Thanks for reading:) Please remember to review:)<p> 


	3. Survival in the Wilderness

Hello guys!

I will not bore you with a long authors note, just want to apologize for the long wait, my schedule have been horribly full lately.

I thank all the people who have reviewed this story, it really inspire me reading your wonderful reviews. Please keep it up so my inspiration to write this story stays put:)

If anyone should have anything they wish to see in this story it is allowed to PM me with a suggestion, I wont promise that I will include it (I need to feel it to write it. Simple as that), but it certainly is worth a try:)

Finally, please read, enjoy and review:)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters in this story. Only the plot is mine.

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><p>Seconds of agonising stillness went by, their gazes remaining locked with each other's while the air kept growing heavier with the tension radiating from their tense forms. Elena's mind was overpowered with thoughts considering the new development in their situation. Her body trembled slightly with the shock of their discovery and she forced to keep herself calm and think rational. She could not stop her tired head from reminding her of the pain and fear accompanying her previous encounters with the bite of a vampire though, and her heart kept pumping her blood faster through her delicate veins.<p>

"Calm down Elena, the sacrificial lamb look doesn't suit you. I'm not going to bite you, I would never do that again", Damon's controlled voice filled the room, a soft undertone of undeserved guilt for previously delirious actions lacing his voice.

"It's okay Damon", Elena spoke quietly, her voice holding a slight tremble, "you have to keep your strength up. I understand, it's okay"

"No, it's not okay Elena, I'm not going to hurt you like that again. Beside, I don't have the intention of staying her long enough to get hungry anyway"

Elena followed the visibly tense vampire with her eyes as he lounged for the door, his intention clearly to break the solid looking wood with his supernatural strength. Damon hit the door with enough force to break a concrete wall, but to Elena's utter horror the door didn't even creak and Damon felt to the floor hissing in obvious pain. Her mind didn't catch up with the situation until Damon had painfully managed to stumble to his feet, his face almost animalistic with black rage.

"Those damn withes", he exclaimed in fury. "Of course Klaus made some bloody witch put a protecting spell on the fucking house", he continued, venom soaking his every word.

"Please calm down Damon, it's going to be..", Elena started in a soothing voice, quickly interrupted by the malevolent vampire pouncing at one of the windows in a fit of frustration.

The result was the same as before, Damon hit the floor with relentless force, hissing like a wounded animal at the sharp contact with concrete.

"Damon", Elena almost yelled, half in concern and half in frustration, as she approached the writhing form on the floor.

Before Elena had the time to reach him, Damon was able to turn his body around and push himself up on his knees, his legs still slightly weak after his involuntary ingestion of vervain and the meeting with the powerful barrier sealing the house. Elena crouched down to his level, taking his face between her palms as she had done in a similar fashion only days before and started the slow process of calming him down from his irrational and desperate state of mind.

"It's going to be okay Damon. Klaus wont harm us, we are to important to him. Please calm down so we can think rational about this", she said slowly and persuasively, pleased with the calmness and steadiness that coloured her voice.

Damon visibly grew calmer under her hands, but the tenseness of features and the sharp edge in his eyes remained stubbornly in place, speaking of the anger and frustration still surging in his veins. He pushed her hands away with a slight roughness and rose till his feet, his eyes still dark with malice and his body tight with anger.

"I need some time alone. Just stay her in the light. I'll be back soon", he informed her in a clipped voice, his tone carrying the familiar tinge that made it clear that his decision was not up for discussion.

Elena did not have the time to answer before Damon was gone, only leaving behind a gust of musty air. She stared into the dark, trying to locate him by sight or sound, but failing gracefully with her blunt human senses. She decided to give him the time to cool of, knowing he would be back when his emotions turned calmer. In the meantime Elena decided to find her inner domestic goddess to keep herself to busy for thought and brighten up the space that seemed to have become their home for at least the next week. She found a small, ugly couch in a nearby pile of junk, and managed to push so it rested on four sturdy legs opposite the mattress by the wall. Feeling quite pleased with herself, she started going through some of the boxes along the wall and felt her mood grow a little lighter with the discovery of a couple of dusty old blankets and several embroidered throw pillows in a box named "living room" . Continuing her exploration she soon returned to her newly retrieved sofa with her arms full of what she believed to be treasures considering their current circumstances. Carefully, she placed her findings on a wooden case she had turned to function as a table, filling the surface with several books, a couple of board games in torn cardboard boxes, some candles and matches, an old jigsaw puzzle picturing three goats in a clover field and some magazines dated 1994, yellowish and faded with age. At least they would now have some sort of entertainment during their stay.

Relaxing a little now that the situation seemed quite more manageable and tolerable than the previous day, she curled up on the saggy, green sofa with a blanket covering her slightly cold limbs, water bottle in hand to refresh her dry throat after her time spent between dusty cardboard boxes and an old, worn copy of Pride and Prejudice securely in her lap. She started reading the book she was already thoroughly familiar with after several previous readings and happily lost herself in the description of the English countryside and the blossoming love between the charming Mr Bingley and the sweet and shy Jane Bennet. Elena was to captured in her reading to notice the tiredness making her eyes heavy, the uncomfortable and fitful sleep of the previous night taking its toll on her body at last. She fell asleep reading about Jane's slow recovery from her cold and Elizabeth's dreadful stay at Netherfield, pictures of fashionable balls and fields bathed in soft light from a bleeding sunset filling her dreams.

Elena's slumber was quiet and peaceful, and when she woke up an unknown amount of time later, her body felt rested and her spirit was considerably higher than it had been the last 24 hours. Letting out a long, almost content sigh, she opened her eyes and immediately met the sight of a dark figure resting on the mattress right opposite her, his back propped up against the wall and long legs sprawled in front of him. She let out a new sigh when she took in the look of his face, brows drawn close together, jaw tight with strain and his silver eyes still turbulent with emotion.

"Planning a sleepover, Pumpkin", he asked humourlessly, his voice low and rough with strain.

"It seems like we are going to spend some time her, so I thought I would at least make the best out of it", she replied calmly. Feeling a little annoyed due to his obvious opposition to make the best out of their situation she added slightly sharper, " It wouldn't hurt you to try to make the best out of all of this too, you know".

Damon just gave an annoyed snort in reply and grabbed one of the magazine of the makeshift table, flipping aimlessly through it with enough force to rip several pages in the process. Elena refused to start any sort of argument, so instead of making further comments on his difficult behaviour, she returned to her romantic novel. After reading for several minutes she realized with dread that she had a more urgent problem at hand than the moody vampire in front of her. After her greedy consumption of water several hours ago nature was calling, and the call was all but gentle. She writhed uncomfortably on the couch, cursing herself for not having thought this situation through at an earlier stage. Damon was eyeing her discomfort with a dark brow raised in question, and she felt even more uncomfortable under scrutinizing stare.

Finally realizing she had no other choice than take care of her "problem", she stood up as casually as possible and looked around. Desperate to at least save a shred of her dignity, she refused to answer Damon's questioning stare and went into the darkness without a word. Holding on tight to the lit candle in her hand she stumbled her way through the semidarkness until she was sure she was out of Damon's view. The pressure inside of her seemed to grow more persistent by the second, and desperate for release she grabbed the first suitable object she could find in one of the boxes in the pile she was currently hiding behind. She looked in distaste at the big white jar in her hands, the word "cookies" inappropriately written on the shiny surface. Without allowing herself a second thought she concentrated on doing her "business" as quickly and neatly as possible, whishing with all her might that Damon was not able to hear her in the utterly quiet room.

When Elena returned to their sleeping quarter Damon was still reading and she plopped down on the couch with her book, relieved that Damon did not seem further interested in her casual walks in the dark.

"You know..", Damon's deep voice disturbed the quiet ambiance of the room, "there is a small bathroom all the way in the back of this room. Just thought I should enlighten you, although you seem to manage pretty good on your own".

Elena's cheeks were a burning red and her eyes was wide with embarrassment and rage when Damon lifted his head and watched her with an innocent expression decorating his handsome face.

"YOU KNEW", she yelled, "you knew, and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, you seemed so engrossed by your survival-in-the-wilderness adventure. So, I thought I should give you a change to work it all out on your own. After all, wouldn't want to ruin the experience for you, would I?", he replied calmly, fake innocence dripping from every word and threatening Elena's normally calm temper.

"You bastard", she hissed through clenched teeth, "I just…I just peed in a cookie jar because you chose to act as the perfect asshole".

Damon's smirk turned to a wide, teasing smile and Elena resolutely turned her back to him, huffing with rage but refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her angry as a result of his stupid stunt. For the rest of the afternoon and evening she refused to look up from her book or share a single word with the vampire still carrying a ridiculous self-satisfied smirk on his face. When the room finally was lit only by to weak candle lights, she wrapped herself in one of the blankets and turned her face towards the back of the couch to go to sleep. The calm slumber from earlier that day did not seem so easy to reacquaint with though, and she kept writhing restlessly back and forth on the worn fabric. With the lack of physical exercise for a whole day, in addition to the fairly low temperature of the room, it did not take long before the damp, chilly air crept into her limbs and made her body tremble under the dusty blanket.

"Neither of us are going to get a minute of sleep if your teeth are going to chatter like that the whole night", Damon commented from behind her, a slight trace of concern recognizable in his smooth voice.

When Elena refused to answer, he continued a moment later, "Don't be stupid Elena. Just because I didn't humour you earlier doesn't give you the right to act as an idiot"

At his comment Elena turned around, but only to face him with one of the most murderous stares he had ever seen. When seeing her enraged features Damon seemed to rethink his strategies, and his voice had turned soft and comforting when he spoke next.

"Come on Elena. Your going to get sick if you stay like that the whole night. Can you please come here and lie down so I can help you warm up"

Elena was starting to consider his offer, sadly aware of the fact that her getting sick was an imminent threat due to their unhealthy environment. Damon, obviously aware of her wavering resolve, continued his soft encouragement.

" Don't play hard to get Elena. Cant we sign some sort of truce, only for the night? I even promise to keep my hands all to myself", Damon said alluringly, emphasizing his words by putting his hands behind his back.

Elena just rolled her eyes at his comment, but listening to her better judgement she knew what she had to do. Keeping her blanket closely around her torso she dragged herself of the couch and dumped down on the mattress with her back facing Damon and her front facing the room. She immediately felt him covering her with a second blanket, before he reached over her and blew out the two candles in front of her. When suddenly facing the complete darkness, Elena was glad that Damon did not completely follow up with his part of the truce and carefully slipped and arm around her waist to hold her close to his warm chest. She felt his breath on her neck when he gently settled his chin on her shoulder and she did not push him away when he pressed her even closer to himself under the cover of their rough blankets, cherishing the warmth and safety of his present to much to even give it a thought. When several minutes had ticked by and their bodies had turned completely still under the blankets and their breathing turned calm and synchronized, Elena finally talked after hours spent without a word.

"I still hate you, you know", she stated on her brink of sleep.

"Oh, I know", he breathed lazily in her ear.

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><p>Thanks for reading:) Please remember to review:)<p> 


	4. Hide and Seek

A/N: I know it is been far to long since my last update and I am really sorry for the delay. I have promised to finish this story and I am going to stick to that promise. Unfortunately, my life is really hectic and I don't have as much time to write as I would have wished to:(

That being said I hope you will enjoy this new chapter and leave my a review with your opinion:)

If you have any questions about this fic (or anything else for that matter) PM me and I will get back to you as fast as I can:)

One last thing, I have gotten a few requests for additional chapters for my collection of one-shots "Hurt, Cookies and Comfort". If there is anyone else out there that wants this please let me know and I will consider writing a couple of extra chapters:)

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><p>Weak light from an early dawn was filtering trough dirty windows and arousing Damon from a deep sleep. In the short moment between sleep and consciousness he found himself confused concerning his whereabouts. The air surrounding his sensitive nose was cold and smelt of dust and a small hint of sweet perfume. He pondered for a second about that strange combination of smells before suddenly the memory of the previous day hit him like a bittersweet realization. He remembered Klaus having grounded them like naughty children in a musky cellar, he remembered the unfortunate lack of vampire-nutrition and with a small smirk on his handsome face he remembered why there was a warm, sweet-smelling bundle of a human girl resting peacefully against him.<p>

Elena's slender back was pressed firmly against his chest and her dark head was resting comfortably on his arm that was draped protectively around her head and across her chest up till where his hand was gently gripping her shoulder. Damon's other arm was snaked around her petite waist, his arms successively encasing her in a grip of protection and affection.

Damon raised himself carefully up on his elbow, his movements slow and careful as not to jostle the girl from her much needed rest. He looked down upon her sleeping face, calm and deprived of the lines of worry that he had started to fear would forever disgrace her young and beautiful features. He smiled at how both her small hands was clutching his forearm to her chest, her fingers firmly curled around the thin material of his shirt and the hard flesh underneath, anchoring her body to his in the throes of sleep. Her breathing was slow and steady and together with the strong beat of her human heart, it created the most soothing music to the vampire's ears.

Deciding that they both would have the benefit of additional sleep, Damon carefully eased back next to her and prepared to be lulled back to sleep by the soft sounds of her mortal body. Pressing his cold nose against the back of her neck, he let himself be enveloped in her sweet scent and smiled softly when he felt her shiver from his cool touch. When her body kept trembling delicately next to him and she started making small, mumbled sounds of displeasure, he once again raised himself from the mattress and looked worriedly down upon her. He noticed how she had kicked the blanket away from her legs during the night and quickly identified it as the reason behind her discomfort. Moving silently closer to her lower half to gather the discarded bedding he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and worry and his nostrils flared when the most wonderful smell teased his senses. Dark and rich, bringing with it a promise of so much pleasure his body throbbed with need. The smell of blood. Sweet, innocent blood.

Elena started mumbling and stirring in her sleep, disturbed from her peaceful state by the sudden retreat of the body that had lied comfortingly by her side trough the night. Her heavy eyelids hesitantly opened up to take in her surroundings and find the source of her rough awakening. When her eyes had adapted to the dimly lit room she looked quizzically at the vampire standing over her. She felt her blood turn cold in her veins when she looked up into his face and saw the raw desperation in the pit of his ebony pupils.

"Elena, are you hurt?", he asked her, his voice so strained it nearly turned into a rough whisper.

"No, I'm fine Damon. Why do you ask? What is wrong?", she asked him back, her own voice unsteady with confusion and rough with sleep. She was not used to see Damon fighting so obviously for control and her heart started beating painfully hard in her chest at the sight.

"Elena, I know this is a sore subject for you young ladies and all, but is it possible that its your time of the month or something?", he asked through gritted teeth, carefully concentrating on not inhaling through his nose, unsure on how much willpower that maintained after nearly two days of forced fast.

"My what?", she replied hastily, her big doe eyes swimming with confusion as they watched him intently. He would have found her sleepy and bewildered state adorable had it not been for their situation turning continually more precarious.

"Your time of the month. A visit from Auntie Red. Surfing the red wave. Whatever you kids call it this days", he quickly replied, desperately trying to suppress the bloodlust that was threatening to change his features. He noticed how her eyes stayed big and confused, her mind evidently still hazy from the abrupt start of the morning. Still fighting his inner urges he almost barked at her, "Your fucking period Elena!"

Elena's eyes grew impossibly larger and he could see her swallow heavily. "Oh…", was all she could say. "OOH"

"Yeah, and as you might understand it's really bad timing, so if you could just stop it or something it would be great", he continued just a little calmer, his eyes closed as he concentrated on breathing through his mouth.

Elena watched Damon's struggle for a few seconds while her mind fought through the last reminds of sleepiness and caught up with the situation at hand. Her eyes flashed with several emotions as she contemplated the newest obstacle they were facing, changing between worry, fear and embarrassment before surprisingly settling on irritation.

"Damon, could you stop making it sound like this is my fault. I can promise you I did not plan on getting kidnapped and stuffed down an old cellar with you this week. And about me stopping…_it_, I think it's as much of a chance of me managing to do that as it is for you to stop being a first-rate jackass " , she fumed, sick and tired of feeling like the world was constantly working against her.

"Damn…!", Damon hissed under his breath, his hunger gnawing at his insides as he started pacing restlessly around their improvised dwelling.

They spent a couple of minutes in deafening silence, the only sound in the room coming from Damon's soft leather boots meeting repeatedly with the dirty floor. Elena watched him intently. She knew the only solution to their problems, the only way to curb the bloodlust of her fellow prisoner. Her heartbeat felt heavy in her chest and she spent about half a minute to calm herself, knowing he would take any hesitation on her part as a reason for not going through with what they needed to do.

"Damon?", she addressed him calmly, sighing in relief when he immediately stopped his aimless pacing and looked at her. She moved toward him slowly, seeing him tense with every step she drew closer.

When there was only three steps separating her soft frame from his hard, tense one she kept their eye contact while she slowly drew the sleeve of her thin shirt away from her wrist. His eyes immediately fell to the exposed skin and she could see his eyes turn dark with hunger. Still, he did not close the remaining distance between them.

"Damon…you need to feed", she said softly, successfully making herself forget the reality of what she was offering and keeping her voice calm and inviting.

"No…", he whispered hoarsely, still fighting the beast within that demanded his submission to predatory instincts.

"Damon…", she continued just as softly, taking one step closer to prove the genuineness of her offering.

"NO!", he shouted angrily. And then he was gone. A gust of mouldy air and the slightest hint of expensive cologne in the air the only evidence of his presence only seconds before.

"Dammit Damon", she said quietly under her breath, knowing he would be able to hear her wherever he was hiding in the blinding darkness.

This was the second time in under 36 hours that Damon had behaved close to childish and run away instead of dealing with the problems at hand and she felt herself grow both weary and annoyed at the action. It was frustrating beyond belief that there was nothing she could do about it as well, she could not force him to feed, make him quench his thirst and with that end his sufferings. All in all the situation seemed to get continually more out of hand and her helplessness seemed to be equally expanding.

In the lack of anything else to occupy her time, Elena returned to the book she had dived into the previous day, hoping for a similar escape from reality the Victorian novel had offered her the day before. Picking up where she had left off she did not manage to engross herself in the romantic setting of the story as she had before. For several hours she kept stubbornly hold of the book, but for every other minute she found herself staring into the empty darkness of the room instead, her thoughts wandering of to much darker matters than the troubled love lives of the 19th century. When she looked out of the window a while later she saw that the sun had reached it peek on the sky and she knew that Damon must have been gone for hours. She felt restless and twitchy and she finally put down the book and let the analytical part of her brain come forth. She was torn between two possible approaches to handle the big bad vampire that was currently hiding in the dark like a scared animal. The first approach was to wait to his temper once again had calmed down and he hopefully was able to see reason. However, this option was bound to take some time and the loss off time meant more time spent without nutrition and a bigger risk of losing control when he was to draw the sweet substance from her delicate veins. The second solution was to lit a candle, toughen up and take a stroll in the dark to locate the missing vampire and give one last try at persuasion. The second solution was far from safer, Elena knowing perfectly well that the improvised pads she had made out of a clean washcloth she had found did nothing to make her smell less like a mouth-watering meal to the starving vampire.

Elena was still contemplating her options, almost seriously considering a third one that contained the presence of a wooden club, a comically sized bump in Damon's perfect forehead and her blood force-fed down his throat, when she heard a loud crash followed by a sound of shattering glass from somewhere in the back of the huge room. For about ten seconds she sat glued to the spot, her heart beating wildly in her chest before she without further thinking jumped from her seat, grabbed a candle and approached the location of the sound. The lone candle did not give much light and she kept stumbling over various objects that was laying in her way, once almost accidentally putting out the flame of her candle when she had to wave her arms to gain her balance. When she finally sensed she was reaching her location she breathed out in relief, only to gasp when the weak candlelight suddenly revealed a sight that was to surreal to possibly be true. Her eyes went wide as the dark-haired vampire sitting sprawled on the floor looked up at her with a wide smile.

"Elena…!", he slurred loudly, "welcome to my tea party"

Elena just stood there, wide-eyed and with an open mouth that was sure to catch flies. Damon was leaning up against a wall, obviously intoxicated and surrounding him was a variety of different bottles with fancy labels. Seeing Damon drunk out of his mind was not a rare occurrence in her life, and even finding him in the presence of alcohol while being held captive in an old cellar would normally not have raised anything more than a feeling of mild surprise. What created her dumbfound expression however was the sight of his "drinking-buddies". Sitting in a half circle around the vampire was a arsenal of different figures, their shapes and sizes varying but their common factor being that they were usually found in the bedrooms of six year old girls. A tiny porcelain tea service designed for the same audience as Damon's new friends was placed neatly between the "guests" and if Elena had not been too chocked to react normally she would have laughed when Damon lifted one of the tiny floral patterned tea cups to his lips and downed the small amount of liquor it contained.

"Damn, this cups is way to small for my alcohol tolerance", he slurred, his eyes comically fixed on the tiny piece of porcelain in his hand. Focusing back on the girl standing over him with an incredulous expression on her face he continued cheerfully, "How rude of me, let me introduce you to my friends Elena".

There was a pause where Damon poured himself a new drink, then he gestured to a Barbie doll to his left. "Well, this is Caroline von Barbie and over there is Judgy "Bonnie" the Witch". "Bonnie" turned out to be a stuffed owl with a rather cross expression on its small face and Elena kept staring at the lifeless animal while she tried to recover from the initial shock of walking into something that reminded her, without personal experience, of a drug induced nightmare.

"And let us not forget my adorable younger brother Stefan", Damon continued smoothly, pointing his teacup towards a one-eyed stuffed bunny with a bushy tail to his right. "You have to excuse his appearance this afternoon, the other rabbits roughened him up pretty badly when he started to make a fuzz about carrots being living things and shouldn't be treated as food. Yeah, there is nothing more grotesque than a mob of pissed of bunny rabbits, that's for sure ".

"Damon, have you lost your mind", Elena interrupted him before he could move on to the next introduction, her voice carrying a mixture of utter disbelief and irritation.

"I feel fine thank you very much", he replied absentmindedly, his mouth now sipping the expensive-looking liquid directly from the slim neck of a bottle. "Thanks to the previous inhabitants exceptionally good taste in hard liquor I might add", he continued with a wicked smile on his handsome face.

Elena felt herself reach her peak of anger and tried to hold back, but failed miserably.

"Your not fine you drunk idiot. You need blood Damon", she yelled in frustration, her fingers twisting from the desire to slap some sense into his thick scull.

Damon's gaze snapped directly to hers then, his eyes as black as obsidian in the weak light from the lone candle, from anger or hunger she was highly uncertain.

"Yeah, and you are oh so willing to be a donor aren't you. You want to hear about stupidity Elena? What about a girl that offer herself up to a starved vampire, do you find anything idiotic about that?"

Damon was slowly raising from his seated position now. His movements seeming a lot more coordinated and graceful than they had appeared a moment ago and she wondered briefly if she had exaggerated his intoxicated state or if it simply was the catlike grace of his inner predator making its appearance. She was jostled out of her thoughts by his swift approach, his movements slow and fluent and his eyes looked on hers while his whole frame radiated power and menace. Elena was frozen to the spot by the sudden change in his demeanour and she stayed stiffly in place as he stopped with only inches separating her tense form from his, her heavy breathing almost making their chests touch with every ragged inhale. Her breath hitched slightly when his beautiful features suddenly changed before her eyes, his eyes turning red with bloodlust and his teeth extending until the needle-sharp points were resting on his bottom lip.

"Do you want to be bitten Elena? Do you want me to drain your life-force directly from your sweet, little veins", he asked her, two of his fingers gently tracing her carotid artery, sending tingles trough the skin of her neck and making her body tremble under his soft touch.

Suddenly his hands gripped her shoulders, his hold on her tight but never crossing into painful. The sudden shock of the contact made her hand drop the candle she had been clinging to, and as the flame flickered and died out to leave them in thick, inky darkness she felt Damon's soft lips by her ear.

"Is _this_ what you want", he breathed raggedly in her ear. Then she felt his warm breath fan the tender skin of her throat, shortly followed by the unmistakeable pinprick of the predator's razor-sharp teeth.

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><p>I just had to make their situation a little bit worse hadn't I;) Thanks for reading and please remember to review:)<p> 


	5. Don't Feed The Vampires After Midnight

**A/N: Another long wait, I know. I'm sorry for having you waiting for so long, but I hope this somewhat steamy chapter will make up for it;) I had some difficulty writing this chapter because I'm not used to write this types of scenes, but I hope it will be worth the read:) Please leave me a review and tell me how I did and I promise the next chapter will be up much, much sooner;)**

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><p>Time had stopped. Everything outside their musty prison had ceased existing and everything left was the blunt sound of Elena's wildly beating heart and the feel of teeth sharp as obsidian against her skin. The dark was unyielding around them, stealing Elena's range of vision and forcing her other senses to expand and work furiously to make up for the loss of sight. Her ears – albeit distracted by the soft heaves of her own heavy breathing – picked up every slight sound in the awfully quiet room; the slight rustling of a mouse feeding her children in the sanctuary of a cardboard box, the little taps of a tree branch softly hitting the window on the other side of the room. Everything felt so much stronger, so much more overwhelming in the face of utter darkness.<p>

Elena could feel Damon's warm breath against her neck, the soft exhales coating her skin with their slight moistness and making the soft surface underneath his fangs even more sensitive to the sharp touch. She shivered as she felt him move ever so slightly, dragging his extended canines tantalizingly over her skin and leaving behind a few droplets of blood he effectively captured with a rough swab of his smooth tongue.

Elena felt herself tremble under Damon's persistent hold, her most basic instincts screaming at her to fight or flight. Of course there was no change for her to accomplish either, but that was still not the reason she stayed immobile in his arms instead of struggling for her freedom. A part of her – the part of her that was not a trembling bundle of primal instincts – knew he would never hurt her, knew his affection for her would keep her safe despite of their dire circumstances. She fought the feeling of fear bravely and forced herself to sag in his arms, trying to give a silent confirmation of her compliance and trust.

At the slight taste of her blood Damon pierced the heavy silence around them with a low, guttural growl. His hands, that had been holding Elena's shoulders in an iron grip, loosened and Elena felt her breath hitch as one of them trailed the unoccupied side of her neck to wound into the soft hair at the nape of her neck and the other splayed itself on her lower back to clutch her petite frame closer to the hardness of his. A quiet gasp Elena recognized as her own left her mouth as Damon's lips closed over the tender skin of her throat and she felt the delicate pinprick of his fangs for the second time that afternoon, her heart going in to overdrive at the sensation.

There was only a second's warning, just a slight change in Damon's posture and then she felt the air caress her face as they were moving through the room at vampire speed. Elena could feel the world blurring past them for a split second before her back hit the wall on the opposite side of the room, the impact bordering on the side of rough but Damon's hands cradling the back of her head and her waist protecting her from any possible pain. She could see beams of red light against the back of her eyelids and opened her eyes slowly to find them back in their improvised dwelling, her back tightly pressed against the wall between the two windows, the space in front of her bathed in soft light from the bleeding sunset outside.

With the support of the wall behind Elena's back Damon's body was pressed even tighter against hers than ever before, their chests and stomachs molding together with every ragged inhale and one of his legs nudged firmly between hers while his mouth never left the soft spot between her shoulder and neck.

"Damon…", Elena breathed raggedly, trying to get some sort of control over the situation.

Her only replay was an almost feral sound emanating from the spot were Damon's lips were clamped to her skin, sounding like the growl of a predator mixed with the sensual moan of a lover. Elena tried to speak again, but her throat seemed to have gotten to restricted for words and her hand shot up to grab the back of his neck instead, trying to create just a sliver of an illusion of control as the situation had turned far too intense for her young mind to handle.

While Elena was trying to catch her breath to be able to speak and reason with him again, Damon was entirely focused on fighting the part of him that wanted to sink his aching fangs into the velvety skin beneath his lips. When he had first approached her only minutes prior his goal had simply been to scare the persistent girl away so he could resume his indulgence of alcohol and file down the sharp edges of his hunger that way. However, the second his lips touched her skin and he had his first taste of her delectable blood his previous intensions crumbled to dust before him and the beast that resided within him roared for the substance that would release it from its sufferings, only a paper-thin layer of olive skin away from the sweet, liquid pleasure from the girl's veins.

Damon was not a newborn vampire though, nor any blood crazed, dark creature with the self-control of an alcoholic in a liquor store. His self-restraint around blood had been tested time and time again through his undead existence and he prided himself of having impeccably strong will in that department. However, with their close proximity it was not just simply her blood that was singing to his senses and awakening an appetite. Her hair was like strands of silk against his rough hand, her skin soft and aromatic against his nose and lips and her body so warm and compliant in his arms; everything mixing together in his drunken mind and creating a craving so strong it was like nothing he had ever felt in his nearly two centuries of miserable living.

Some small part of him was whispering in his turbulent mind though, reminding him of who it was that was pressed to him so intimately, demanding him to consider the fact that he was currently treating the girl he loved with the same domination and ferocity he would one of his many midnight acquaintances. Acquaintances that usually left the pristine, white sheets of his bed stained with abstract patterns of blood and sweat. His wits temporarily returned and he propelled them out of the darkness to give her the decency of light and sight, refusing to let her feel like the girls he acquired for their sweet taste and simple entertainment value.

The light did not seem to tame the predator though, his teeth still aching in his gums and his hands craving to touch every part of the young girl at once. He fought his urges bravely, but while he kept one part of the two-headed monster at bay, the other would always draw unmistakably closer. He pushed his nose into the crook of her neck and breathed her in deeply, the tiny part of him that still held a shred of conscious thought noticing with surprise that the smell of her skin seemed to speak to his senses even stronger than the underlying scent of her sweet blood. His hands started wandering one their one accord, pressing themselves between her and the wall and shamelessly travelling the length of her back, down the curve of her backside before returning north to cradle her hips in a possessive grip. Trembling with need he let his lips close over the skin of her collarbone, his tongue slipping over the soft surface to taste her the way he had craved for far too long.

"Damon…". Elena's voice was raspy and slightly breathless.

Damon was feeling like he was standing on the edge of a precipice, his mouth was not able to let go after having tasted her and without any thought other than sating his own desires he let his lips trace the length of her throat, leaving behind a trail of scorching kisses and caresses.

"Damon…_please_…don't…"

That snapped him out of it. Elena never begged, Elena should not _have_ to beg. He tore his face away from her, stumbling back a few steps by the raw force of the movement. He looked at her with wide eyes, his first reaction a deep disgust clawing its way through his stomach at seeing her so disheveled and tousled by his rough ministrations. Her thin shirt was pushed halfway up her stomach, her hair fell in tangled masses down her heaving chest and her neck was red and swollen where his fangs had grazed her fragile skin. He felt nauseated and took another step back from her.

"You have to get away from me Elena", he whispered brokenly. "You have to stay away", he continued slightly higher and with a strong tinge of desperation Elena had never heard before. "You know how I become when I'm not in control".

"NO"

Damon's eyes, that had been deliberately downcast as not to see the judgment and disgust he was sure to find in hers, snapped up to her face, their shape almost comically wide as they watched her with deep surprise.

"No, I'm not staying away and I'm not going to let you stay away either. I'm tired of chasing you around like a little boy refusing to eat his broccoli. You are going to stay her and let me feed you, or help me god I'm going to drive a stake through each of your limbs and force-feed you while you wail like the kid you are".

Even Elena was surprised by her little speech, all the irritation and hopelessness she had felt the last couple of days bubbling up inside her and leaving her mouth with a firmness and ferocity she did not think herself capable of at the moment. It was like a bubble had burst and though her message had been full of strength she felt her body grow weary and tired right after, a heaviness settling in her bones which forced her mind to concentrate to keep her body from sinking into a boneless heap on the floor. She could not help but notice and feel a little smug though, when she saw the mighty, bad-to-the-bone Damon Salvatore look at her like she was the frightful Medusa herself, his baby blue eyes as big as saucers in his ridiculously handsome face. Then suddenly his features grew softer and slightly more relaxed and she could see a tiny glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"Did you just call a 169 years old vampire a toddler?", he asked in both amusement and disbelief, one of his dark eyebrows raised in question.

"Well…yeah", Elena sighed languorously. "You where kinda acting like one"

Damon just watched her with a weird look in his eyes, his gaze heavy on her face as a deep silence settled around them. Elena felt a little disposed under his scrutinizing stare and spoke quickly to distract them both from the tension that was quickly filling the air around them.

"So are you going to feed from me now or do I have to chase you around again?

Elena watched as Damon's expression changed into one she had never seen before; vulnerability mixed with a soft tone of almost human innocence.

"I always want you to chase me", he murmured softly, his ice-blue eyes blazing with warmth as she quickly let her own gaze fall to the ground, trying to hide how much his words unnerved her.

None of them quite knew what to say after that, and as the seconds ticked by Elena kept her eyes downcast while she restlessly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Sensing the uneasiness radiating from her Damon let out a defeated sigh before he pulled himself together, slipping on his demeanor of cold ease before he broke the ever growing tension with a calm, detached voice.

"Okay Elena, you win. Let's feed the poor, hungry vampires".

Elena looked up from the dirty floor, watching him with an unfathomable look in her eyes before she quickly let them fall back down, letting out a small sigh on her own and gently nodding her head in consent.

Damon mentioned for her to sit down on the mattress next to them and she complied without a word, seating herself with her legs tucked underneath her body and her hands entwined on her lap. Her head was bent slightly forward, the thick curtain of her mahogany hair falling down to frame her heart-shaped face and hide it from his view. Damon let his own body crouch down gracefully in front of hers, placing himself close enough to have their knees touch and her scent fill his sensitive nose. He watched her intently as she sat there quietly before him, her hands fidgeting nervously in her lap while her head remained downcast and shadowed. There was a soft whistling sound as Elena drew a deep breath and then she disentangled her hands to pull the sleeve of her plum-colored shirt away from her wrist. She immediately offered him her outstretched arm, her actions infinitely more sure than the strong scent of nervous adrenaline perfuming the air around her would indicate.

Damon watched the offered limb carefully before he gently grabbed it, pulling her a little closer before he caught her by surprise and placed her arm against the back of his neck. Elena looked at him with big, confused eyes, clearly not understanding his intentions.

"What are you doing", she asked nervously.

"If we are going to do this we are going to do it my way", Damon informed her calmly, his voice businesslike and serious as his hands gently gathered her chestnut locks and pulled them over her shoulder.

Elena could not help the uneasiness stirring in her stomach as she immediately understood Damon's intentions, her blood running a little colder in her veins at the thought of the last time vampire teeth had penetrated her fragile neck.

Damon, seeing Elena's nervous expression, tentatively reached out with his hand and placed it gently against her neck, slowly stroking the rough pad of his thumb along her cheek to sooth her.

"It will hurt less if I bite your neck and it will also be easier to keep clean than your wrist".

Elena nodded slightly at his words, understanding the benefits of the location of the bite but still dreading the imminent act itself.

"I'm going to go very slow, okay?", Damon continued as he watched her closely, looking for any sign of regret of her earlier offering. He knew she dreaded what was to come, but he could see she was still determined to follow it through, even though she was clearly expecting nothing less than another painful experience.

When Elena once again had nodded slowly in understanding he started leaning closer to situate their bodies in a more comfortable position for what was to come, but as his head lowered towards her heavily thumping pulse point he heard a quiet whisper of his name and quickly moved back to look into deep, chocolate eyes.

"Just be gentle, okay?", she whispered almost too quietly to be heard, her turbulent brown orbs making his insides melt and his dead heart ache in his chest.

"I will. I promise", he replied equally quiet, stroking her flushed cheek comfortingly one last time before he returned his attention to her slender neck.

The frantic urgency that had dominated Damon's actions only minutes before was completely forgotten; his movements now slow and careful and his hands warm and comforting as they drew Elena close and held her carefully. His nose skimmed her jaw line and travelled downwards until his lips rested over the spot he knew would be the best for penetration, her heartbeat thumping seductively against the sensitive skin of his lips. He shamelessly breathed in the unique scent of her skin, reveling in being this close without being instantly pushed away. He kept indulging himself in her sweet aroma while he let his canines lengthen and his vampiric features take over his body.

Elena sat stiffly as Damon's arms curled around her and secured her to his body while his face inched closer to its destination. A strangled breath left her lips as she tried to prepare her body for the imminent pain when his teeth would break her skin and his mouth suck her precious life fluid from her delicate veins. The room around them had turned so silent with anticipation that Elena almost jumped when Damon tipped his chin up slightly to whisper in her ear.

"Relax Elena, you're trembling"

"It's cold", she replied weakly, the half-truth evident in her tired voice.

She heard Damon sigh a little and without changing their position he took hold of the blanket behind her and draped it carefully over her shoulders and back. The warmth around her felt comforting and when Damon's hand started tracing soothing patterns on her blanket-clad back she relaxed into his touch. She shivered again when she felt Damon's soft tongue stroke against the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder before his lips closed around the skin and sucked gently to raise the vein to the surface.

The sudden twinge of pain in her neck brought her tumbling down into reality, the shock making her cringe and whimper lowly in discomfort. Damon's hands continued their gentle strokes as his arms kept her locked against him so she would not pull away and rip herself on his fangs. For a moment the pain was all Elena could focus on and tears started pooling in her eyes as she forced herself to stay calm, hoping intently that Damon would not notice her anguished state.

And then he started drinking from her; gentle draws of her blood occasionally followed by soft lapping of his silky-soft tongue.

It was a feeling completely impossible to explain, a feeling she had only vaguely encountered in her short human life, and on no occasion felt as strongly and purely as she was doing now. As Damon's lips closed around the damaged skin and nursed the life-giving liquid from her artery the pain subsided to a dull ache and a feeling of tranquility entered her mind. Calm energy melted into her tense muscles and coaxed her body into submission as the realization of a true symbiotic relationship filled her mind, sending sweet tingles of pleasure to every nerve ending in her body. Having Damon feed from her, selflessly giving him the substance he needed for survival directly from her own being felt more satisfying than anything she could remember.

Elena was completely caught up in the sensation, so lost to the new feelings soring around inside her that she never saw the danger creeping up behind her, snaring her in its net like a mouse hypnotized by a snake. Her eyes were closed and she never noticed how the black edges around her vision bled into pools of ink before her eyes. The lightheadedness went equally unnoticed, the normally sick feeling of nausea and weakness sweeping through her body with a much sweeter impact, making her feel like she was weightless and flying in a cloud of soft warmth. The usual blackness behind her eyelids was filled with vibrant, dancing lights, making a smile appear on a face she was no longer consciously aware of.

She never noticed herself slipping away. She never saw the light turn into darkness. She never felt her body go limp and lifeless. She never heard _his_ frenetic calls.

"Elena…Elena… _please_…wake up"


	6. A Bed Of Roses And Thorns

**A/N: I hereby present to you the sixth chapter of These Four Walls and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have the time I would, as always, deeply appreciate a review with your opinion. **

**Now, let's start chapter six:)**

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><p>When being denied a healthy diet of blood for so long, any type of the life preserving liquid would taste like ambrosia to the starved vampire. Having the love of your life willingly offer it with complete trust and compliance proved to be the greatest gift of an unnaturally long lifetime though. Damon's senses were completely filled with everything that was <em>her; <em>the taste of her blood like liquid honey mixed with every gentle spice and earthly freshness that existed in the world, the natural warmth of her body that sipped generously into his ever cool physique and making shivers of life and vitality crawl pleasurably under his skin, her presence so blissfully strong around him he nearly wanted to cry with happiness. It was all too much to handle.

All, all too much.

The great force of the pleasure consuming him knocked every rational thought from his mind and for a glorious moment all he was able to comprehend was the delicacy that flooded his mouth and ensnared his senses. He was caught in an abyss of pleasure and it took every last shred of willpower to break through the cloud of dizzying sweetness and return to reality.

When he did the world had turned cold and quiet and for a moment he was unsure why everything felt so wrong, so heartbreakingly stripped of warmth, scent and sound when he only seconds before had bathed in an exquisite sea of the finest of them all. And that was when he understood that he had soaked it all up. His body had greedily absorbed every ounce of warmth in the room, every sweet fragrance and left the scent of cold death behind. There was no sound. Not even the soft thuds of the forever pure heart of a teenage girl.

He reeled back in complete and utter horror, the lifeless body in his lap falling limply to the floor in front of him. Her skin was white and cold like a lifeless china doll's, eyes wide but glazed over with the veil of death, forever locked in an expression of terror and pain. He could not move. All he could do was take in the sight of the fallen angle before him, her fingers twisted like she had been clawing for life and fighting death to the last. He could not comprehend the sight. He could not believe that the gruesome picture before him could be the truth. There was no way the universe could be so cold and cruel that it let this human girl, the reincarnation of everything pure and sweet, fall under the spell of death by the hands of an abomination like himself. It was simply not possible.

But despite how many times he called her name, despite every gentle encouragement to wake up from the sleep he was sure she must be under, her eyes stayed glassy and lifeless and her heart remained perfectly still in her frail chest.

He cried then, sore and deep. He had finally reached the goal of his life, his undeniable fate; destroy everything good in the world and bring your own doomed self down in the process. This was the meaning of his existence, and he cried deeply for all of them that had been captured in the maelstrom of this dark prophesy. He bent down and let his tears soak into the ever cooler skin of Elena's chest, pulling her limp body into his arms and pressing his tearstained face against her while he sobbed. Through his undead existence he had experienced more than his fair share of pain, loss and devastation, but never once had he silently begged for true death to put him out of his misery like he was doing now – having nothing left in his whole being than the wish of resting beside the girl he loved for eternity.

"Well, this was an interesting turn of event", a smooth, English accent sounded behind him.

Damon lifted his tear streaked face, not caring for even a second that his greatest enemy was seeing him in his current state. He did not care about anything anymore, he wanted to die and the evil hybrid standing before him might actually be the means to make that exact wish come true.

"Look at this Stefan", the hybrid continued, mentioning for the dark silhouette in the doorway behind him to come closer. "Look at what your dear brother did to my personal blood bag".

Stefan's lean form come to stand next to Klaus', his face avoid of any emotion as he looked down on his brother and the girl they had both loved so deeply.

From there on everything happened in a blur. Damon was suddenly on his back with a raging Stefan straddling him, the sharp edge from a makeshift stake pressing against the skin above his heart. He did not fight it; he merely looked his brother in the eyes and waited for the blessed mercy a stake through the heart would give him. He held his brother's stare unflinchingly as the sharp wood penetrated his taut flesh and the pain washed over him in excruciating waves. The last thing he saw was Stefan's heartbroken expression, and he felt a pang of guilt that it had to be Stefan that ended his pitiful existence. Knowing his brother better than anyone he knew that he would live in guilt and pain for the execution of his brother for the rest of his eternity.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", Damon whispered repeatedly while the stake kept digging deeper into his body, only stopping when the wood met with his heart and the world bled into inky darkness before his nonresponsive eyes.

He was caught in the darkness for some time, floating aimlessly around in some limbo world between the leaving and the dead. So utterly fitting for him he thought absentmindedly, he had never fitted in anywhere in his earthly life so why should the afterlife be any different.

The quiet – if not peaceful – atmosphere around him was suddenly disturbed when the space around him started quaking and stirring, seemingly coming to life around him while an indistinct voice was urgently calling his name through the impenetrable darkness. Damon started to feel his physical form itch to life and he forced himself to stay away from the light developing before him, knowing it would lead him back to the life he had just so willingly left behind.

"Don't", he mumbled brokenly. "I don't want to come back, leave me alone".

"Damon…Damon". The voice was clearer now, forcing him to listen and dragging him out of the darkness without his consent.

"NO", he gasped just as his eyes flew open and he found himself once again breathing the damp, musty air from the old cellar room.

He was staring directly into wide, brown doe eyes and within a second his body was flooded with uncountable waves of heart soothing relief. Elena was looking at him with a frenetic glint in her ebony pupils, running her hands carefully over his face and torso as if looking for injury or any indication of pain.

"Damon, are you okay", she asked in a worried voice. "You were whimpering in your sleep and then you started trashing around and spasm like you were hurting. I didn't know what to do, I tried to wake you, but you kept mumbling you didn't want to come back and…", she trailed of breathlessly, her eyes darting from side to side while she watched him anxiously.

Elena's warm body was crouched down very close to his own and Damon could not stop himself from leaning in and resting his head against her shoulder, breathing in the comforting scent of her skin.

"Are you okay Damon?", she asked again and he could hear how the new intimacy had scared her further, he was not usually the one to seek comfort. His version of comfort was usually found in the bottom of a very expensive, 40 years old bottle of the finest bourbon.

Still, he needed this intimacy now more than anything. He needed to hear the gentle thudding of her heart, feel the way her chest expanded with every quiet inhale. He needed to know that she was alive.

Several seconds ticked by and as they bundled up to minutes Damon felt one of Elena's small hands smooth down over the hair at the nap of his neck and he let out a shuddering breath against her chest as her finger gently threaded through the black strands and caressed the skin beneath. He could feel her other hand trail over his back to join the first one in a comforting embrace, and that was when he really realized what he was doing and hurriedly pulled away.

"I'm fine, just go back to sleep Elena", he replied eventually, his voice husky with sleep and the remains of the stress from his nightmare.

"Damon…", she started softly, but Damon quickly interrupted her before she could continue.

"GO. BACK. TO. SLEEP. ELENA", he said sternly, emphasizing every word in a way she knew meant that the matter was not up for discussion.

Elena sighed deeply and nodded her head quietly in surrender, moving her body slowly away from his and back to the blanket-clad mattress were she had spent the previous part of the night in solitude. She lay down with a heavy heart, watching Damon carefully as he settled back against the wall opposite of her. The sight made Elena sigh softly with frustration; he had been seated in the exact same position when she had woken up earlier that night, his dark frame rested stiffly against the cold wall and his features dark with worry and strain. He had asked her in a clipped voice if she was okay and even though she had been tired and confused after having passed out while he fed from her she had recognized his cold expression for what it was; self-loathing and disgust for having lost control with her. She had tried to talk softly to him to lessen his guilt, reassure him that she was fine and that her having fainted probably was due to her poor eating and sleeping habits as of late. He had simply scoffed and brushed her of, telling her brusquely to get some sleep. Since she had been too tired and weak from the blood loss to argue with him she had grudgingly obeyed his command, watching him from her bundled up position on the makeshift bed until exhaustion had finally caught up with her and sleep had pulled her under.

She was lying in the exact same position now, watching his tense frame carefully from under her dark lashes. Even through the semi-darkness of a very early morning she could see the strained expression on his face and she could feel the pain radiating from him in waves of dark energy. She had been out of her mind with worry when she had woken up earlier, coaxed awake by the terrible sounds of Damon's soft whimpers and thrashing body. When he had not responded to her gentle calls of his name she had tried to shake him awake, but that had only made his unconscious body trash harder and mumbled pleads of leaving him alone to spill from his lips. She had started fearing that Klaus might be using some sort of dark magic on him when he finally opened his eyes and two turbulent pools of stormy blue had met her own frightened stare.

Damon was clearly hurting. She had seen it in his eyes when he had woken up from his nightmare and she had felt the vulnerability in every touch to her own trembling body. She wanted to help him, she wanted to take some of his pain away, but she was frustratingly in the dark on how to accomplish that very wish.

There was a rustle and she could hear the distinct rasping sound of a metal cork being turned over and over in a rapid motion and the familiar sloshing of amber liquid as it was jostled in its glass confines. Elena sighed again, returning from her deep thoughts and quietly observing Damon deal with his problems the only way he knew how; with ridiculous amounts of numbing alcohol.

"Damon…", she whispered softly, unsure of what more to say. She wished to console him in his time of need, but her head was too tired to find the words to do so.

"Get some sleep Elena". Elena did not need to look at him to know that he was speaking through clenched teeth. He was clearly in a real dark place at the moment and she knew that it was probably best to leave him be for now, previous experiences had taught her that. Still, she had not been Elena Gilbert if she did so.

"I'm cold", she whispered gently, knowing perfectly well that appealing to his fears for her wellbeing was a low blow. At the moment she could not make herself care though, if she was going to sooth him in any way she could not have him shy away from her anymore.

Damon looked at her with cold, dark eyes; clearly catching on to what she was doing. The room was fairly cold and Elena had no problems in making her body shake slightly under the blankets to accentuate that, hoping it would be enough to convince Damon to join her on the mattress for the rest of the night.

Damon gave a low growl in irritation but she could hear him make motions to stand up and in the next second he was lying next to her. He quickly turned to his side so he was facing away from her and she was looking straight into the dark expanse of his shirt-clad back. Elena got a little exasperated at the action but was determined to not be fended of that easily.

"Damon...", she whispered gently again, trying to make him turn around and face her.

"Which word of _get some sleep_ did you not understand?", he growled warningly, his body tightening up in front of her.

When dialogue seemed to be out of the picture Elena decided to retort to her final and probably most risky option; physical contact. Using her need of warmth as an excuse she slowly slid closer to his motionless body and pressed herself lightly against him, her palms and cheek resting softly against his warm, muscular back. She felt him tense like he was going to move away, but then his muscles relaxed slightly and his whole body seemed to soften a little against her own. They lay like that for some time, her fingers occasionally making tiny little strokes against the soft cotton of his shirt and the taut muscles beneath.

"I could've killed you y'know". His voice was uncharacteristically quiet and she could hear his pain and regret lace every word.

She moved one of her hands to his side and let it rest against his ribs, feeling the slight bumps of the bones outlined underneath her fingertips.

"But you didn't", she spoke softly against his back.

"That's not the point"

"Yes, it is", she stated firmly, squeezing his side comfortingly at the same time.

Damon turned around slowly so he was facing her, his eyes full of emotion as they finally met hers.

"Was that what you were dreaming about?", she asked carefully. "That you lost control with me and wasn't able to stop?"

His silence was deafening and told Elena all she needed to know.

"Hey…", she cooed softly, placing a palm gently against his cheek to make him look at her.

"You stopped, okay. Everything is fine. _I'm _fine", she continued equally softly, stroking his cheekbone with a feather light touch of her fingertips.

She knew that Damon could see the honesty in her eyes when his features visibly softened and he lifted one hand to hesitantly caress her own burning cheek. His eyes – vulnerable and achingly deep – had her transfixed and when he ever so slowly started to lean in towards her she was so lost in his gaze that she almost missed the movement.

"Damon", she breathed warningly, unsure of what this intimacy meant to both of them and where it was leading them.

"Please Elena", he whispered just a fraction of an inch away from her lips, "just this once. I promise I will never speak of it unless you want to".

Elena was in turmoil. She wanted to give Damon the intimacy he craved to sooth his mind and deep down in her own troubled being there was a part of her that craved it as well, but her conscious mind feared the consequences moving past such a boundary would have on their rather fragile relationship.

"Please", he whispered again, his breath sweet and inviting against the sensitive skin of her face.

Elena was lost in the achingly sad expression in his eyes and whatever the reason may be – compassion, love or hidden desire – she felt her eyes slowly slid shut and her lips open ever so slightly in invitation.

For a second she lay there in nervous anticipation and then she felt the softest touch of lips against her own. Damon left a feather light kiss on her upper lip then moved down to caress her bottom one equally softly, stroking his finger through the hair at her temple as he did so. He moved away briefly to observe her expression and Elena was about to open her eyes when she felt a puff of air escape his lungs and swipe softly over her face as his lips moved back in to capture hers once more. He was gently sucking on her bottom lip for a moment and then moved back up to kiss her more fully, his sweet breath flowing into her mouth as he pressed their lips together with a bit more pressure. Elena's heart was pounding in her chest as she waited for the time when Damon would deepen their kiss, but it never came. He continued the slow, gentle assault of her mouth and when Elena had finally lost track of time he pulled back after a short, sweet parting kiss to her swollen lips.

"Thank you", he breathed raggedly, his lip slightly gracing hers as he spoke.

"You're welcome", she replied breathlessly, silently wondering if she would be able to go back to sleep when her heart was still hammering like a hummingbirds wing in her chest.


End file.
